WILD$TYLE & YoungQueenz

Meet WILD$TYLE, an independent label that has aspirations of becoming the main defining force of the hip-hop scene in Hong Kong. Their name comes from the 1983 American movie Wild Style, which is one of the most influential hip-hop films of all time. First established in 2011, WILD$TYLE has held the same unwavering mindset of creating the “purest and dopest hip-hop” to this very day. Since then, they have collaborated across the globe, working with talented artists in Japan, Taiwan, and even France.

Listen to select tracks from YoungQueenz’s last album THE TUESDAY below.

YoungQueenz – DEEP ft. Matt-Force

YoungQueenz – What a Life ft. GrymeMan

YoungQueenz – THE TUESDAY

以下曲目来自YoungQueenz的过往专辑《異常火曜日》，欢迎试听。

YoungQueenz – DEEP ft. Matt-Force

YoungQueenz – What a Life ft. GrymeMan

YoungQueenz – 異常火曜日

WILD$TYLE is different from the typical hip-hop crew, where members often adapt a similar style and rap around related themes. “We’re not a crew – every artist has their own style. We try to promote every one of them individually.” WILD$TYLE’s roster consists of numerous producers and rappers, and each artist taps into their own stylistic niche. The core rappers are: MicLi, who’s known for his weed-fueled rap; Matt-Force, who has a mellow boom bap style; Triple G, known for his hipster rap; and Grymeman, who both produces and raps in his signature 90s style. And then of course, there’s YoungQueenz – the man behind it all.

Rapper extraordinaire YoungQueenz is the founder, creative director, and overall mastermind behind WILD$TYLE. Inspired by the lyricism and energy of local rap legend LMF, he started to pen his own lyrics as a teenager. He admits that ever since he started rapping, he felt that this was going to be his life’s destined path. YoungQueenz is able to find artistic inspiration in many things, like the city vibes of Hong Kong, the violence of Takeshi Kitano’s films, and his mentality of having a “huge ego but with super low self-esteem”. Bringing together all of his influences and inspirations, he recently released “Kiko Mizuhara”, the first single off of his upcoming Otaku Mobb mixtape.

This latest YoungQueenz track is a bizarre combination of different things, like drugs, anime, video games, and anti-social tendencies, that he manages to make work. The music video switches locations from the neon-lit streets of Hong Kong, to an old school arcade with flickering screens, to fluorescent-lit hallways lined with anime posters. YoungQueenz delivers a frenzied visceral flow of words, in a smooth mix of Cantonese and English, over a trap beat crafted by Floyd Cheung, a producer and also one of the original members of WILD$TYLE. YoungQueenz’s lyrics sometimes mention drugs like DMT and PCP – and other times, he mentions his otaku-related interests, by name-dropping anime protagonists and Japanese video games. “This world is evil, you know – but for me, otaku love is pure and real.” YoungQueenz cohesively glues these unlikely themes together with a chorus that echoes his endless infatuation with famous Japanese model Kiko Mizuhara.

YoungQueenz is still keeping an eye out for new producers to work with. “I need more beats. I feel like I am trapped and can’t maximize my vision, concept and ability because of this,” he said. “I don’t want to rap over non-exclusive beats. It’s personal. I need originality, and to work with a producer who’s feeling my mind so I can make better music and show my big picture to the audience.” Besides the upcoming Otaku Mobb mixtape, he also hinted at another album and a couple more trap EPs coming in the near future.